Born on February 6, 1968, Tommy was a petty thief who worked at a grocery store alongside Mary Rutka, also a petty thief. The grocery store was frequented by Don Sanderson and his family. One day, he and Mary were manipulated by James Stanworth to aid him in an attack the Sanderson family inside their home, which had previously belonged to James but was lost by his family and therefore enraging him. On the night of March 9-10, 1985, the trio broke into the Sanderson home and carried out the attack, with James stabbing to death Don's wife Carrie and their daughter Abby. They managed to get away with the murders and Don was left to take all of the blame. For the next 25 years, Tommy moved on with his life.

In 2010, he comes home one day to find a recently-released Don in the kitchen, having identified him as one of the assailants from his Internet research in prison. Don holds him at gunpoint, but Tommy fights back, gaining the upper hand. This prompts Don to grab a kitchen knife and fatally stab him in self-defense. Ironically, James had stabbed Carrie and Abby, which initially leads police to accuse Don of murder. Eventually, the BAU prove Don's innocence, write Tommy's death as being committed in self-defense, and arrest James by the end of the episode.